


Fragments

by SandstoneSunspear



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Multi, genderfluid!Maggie Sawyer, jewish!Maggie Sawyer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-22 06:42:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20869880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandstoneSunspear/pseuds/SandstoneSunspear
Summary: Fragments of a potentially much longer fic that may get written down the road, feat.genderfluid!Maggie Sawyer.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fic's set in the same universe as the Coming Out and Closet prompts for my 2019 Pride Month Prompt Fills, but is an au! of Coming out where Kate and Maggie got married in secret before Maggie left for National City.

It’s a Mateo day when Alex goes missing. He kicks himself for not noticing her absence sooner because by the time he and Lucy realise something is wrong, they’re about eight hours behind the man who took their lover.

Normally, Mateo is a rather calm headed man. He chalks it up to his Maggie days and the help Kate provided him so that he could redefine what it means to be a machista. But as he stares down Rick Malvern, every fiber of his being is screaming that he needs to be beating Malvern’s smug face to a pulp. The ache in his jaw is the only sign of just how tense he is. He can hear his teeth grinding as Alex pleads for him and Lucy to not give in to Malvern’s request. The raw desperation in her voice makes him want to scream. Outside of their bed, she should never sound that desperate.

He can’t stop himself from smashing the laptop in frustration when the line cuts out. His heart is in his throat. As much as he wants to believe that it was just a bad connection that led to the dropped call, he knows better. He didn’t miss the way the water was rising, hasn’t missed how far behind he and Lucy are compared to Malvern. He can’t wait any longer.

Once the screaming match between Kara and Lucy ends, Mateo’s in Lucy’s office. He angles his body in such a way that keeps her from seeing the way that his hand flexes with nerves. He feels his stomach twist with guilt as he presses his lips to her hair and pretends to accept her orders, all the while snagging her badge when Lucy leans into his touch. 

He waits until Lucy meets with Vasquez, pacing like a caged animal until the door to her office shuts. Then he’s gone. 

The second his boots touch the pavement outside of the DEO’s headquarters, he’s dialing Kate’s number. 

_ “Hey, Mags, how’re you doing?” _

He doesn’t even bother to correct her. He doesn’t have time for that. _ Alex _doesn’t have time for that.

“Alex is missing.”

He can practically see Kate snapping to attention. _ “What?” _

He pulls Alex’s gun from his waist belt and his badge and points them in the direction of a hapless civilian who just happens to be unfortunate enough tonight to be driving a sports car. “NCPD, give me the keys!” he demands, instead of answering Kate directly.

Keys are thrust into Mateo’s face before he even manages to finish. He snatches them and gets into the car. He puts the call on speaker before tossing it into the cupholder and peeling out into traffic.

_ “Maggie Sawyer-Kane!” _ Kate’s voice is shrill. _ “Did you just steal a car?!” _

“I’m gonna give it back.” 

Kate sputters. _ “That, that is not even remotely the point!” _

“Kate!” Mateo can’t stop the short note from entering his voice. “Please, babe, save it for later. Alex.”

_ “What happened?” _

“Some guy named Rick Malvern kidnapped her. She’s in a tank that’s filling with water in an unknown location and I’m 8 hours behind him,” he relays quickly, grip tightening around the steering wheel as he recalls the much-too-brief vid call they had shared just hours earlier.

_ “Malvern make any demands?” _

“His father for Alex.”

_ “I’m sensing there’s more to the story there.” _ Despite the situation and stress that threatens to crush him, Mateo can’t stop his lips from twitching into a small smile at her words. His wife always knows when there’s more to a story.

“Try two counts of murder one.”

_ “The DEO won’t go for that,” _Kate says.

“I know, but I don’t work for them.” Not officially. The paperwork hasn’t cleared yet, so in the eyes of anything bureaucratic, he is still just a liaison officer between the NCPD science division and the DEO. 

_ “Maggie…” _

The steering wheel creaks under Mateo’s grip. He pretends it’s from the wicked turn he takes instead of her tone of voice.

“I want her to meet you. Her and Lucy,” he says. “Alex, Alex is amazing Kate. She’s smart and funny, but also such a nerd and she cares _ so much _ about the people she loves. She likes dogs and thinks that Gertrude is a legitimate name for a living being, even one that’s furry and has four legs. And her smile. God, Kate, her _ smile _. I want you to see it so bad.”

Kate is silent on the other end. He knows her silences and knows that this one isn’t one of disapproval. It’s contemplative. She already knows about Lucy and Alex; he’d gushed about them to her before. He can picture her imagining the women he’s come to love through his eyes

_ “What’s the dad’s name?” _

“Peter Thompson.”

_ “You still have your communicator on you?” _

“Are you kidding?” Of course he does. He wouldn’t be caught dead without it. He’d started his career in Gotham, after all.

_ “Toss the phone, I’ll call in five.” _

He hangs up and promptly tosses his phone out the window. He only feels a mild pang of regret when sees it clip a car. Phones are replaceable. Alex Danvers is _ not. _

He barely has the window back up before his communicator is ringing. “Sawyer-Kane,” he answers crisply.

_ “Detective, take the next exit. You have ten minutes to get to Albatross Bay before the guard change is finished.” _

“Roger that.” Mateo shifts gears and goes screeching across four lanes of traffic in the blink an eye. He ignores the sounds of cars honking angrily behind him. “Doin’ pretty mighty, by the way,” he drawls out casually.

_ “Understood.” _ There’s a beat. _ “Mateo?” _

“Yeah?”

_ “Bring our girl home.” _

Our girl.

He feels his heart leap up into his throat, this time for an entirely different reason. The firm, husky note Kate’s voice takes sends shivers through him. It reminds him of Lucy: calm, commanding, ready to fight and kill for those she cares about. That’s what has always made Batwoman different from Batman, the passion. The presence. 

Mateo licks his lips. “I’m going to.” 

_ “Good, because you’ve really piqued my interest about the two of them and I really want to meet them. Both of them.” _

He smiles. “I’ll let them know when this all over.”

When, not if. He refuses to make it an if. He’s going to introduce his girlfriends to his wife and he’s fairly certain it’s going to be a memorable meeting.

_ “Be careful.” _

Just like that, his smile is gone. In its place is a look of grim determination. “I will be. Can you look-”

_ “For locations where Malvern might be holding her? Way ahead of you.” _

“God, I love you.”

Batwoman’s laughter echoes through the car.

-

Mateo feels a little embarrassed on behalf of the NCPD over how easy it is for him to get into Albatross Bay. Admittedly, living in Gotham and being married to Kate Kane may give him a slight advantage but he still finds himself grumbling his annoyance at how easily the fence is hopped, how predictable the guard patterns are, and the amount of shadows available for him to slip through. He takes down three guards in a row without being noticed and blasts his way through four cell blocks before he has to deploy the DEO tech that he borrowed in order to conceal his presence.

He gets Peter Thompson out of his cell in less than a minute. It takes four for the two of them to be halfway through the prison via the route Mateo had blasted through, before Kara shows up.

The second she lands, Mateo’s gun is pointed in her direction. It’s a move that kills him to make, but one he’ll make over and over again because Alex is running out of time and every second he spends standing in front of her sister is another second she loses.

“Detective, you don’t have to do this-” Kara tries in that calm, strong voice that the media loves but right now that Mateo hates. She doesn’t have the right to be calm, given that her recklessness had been the thing to push him to this in the first place.

“Move, Supergirl,” he orders. When she doesn’t, he feels his grip tighten around the gun, feels the click of the safety come off. “MOVE, SUPERGIRL, OR I WILL DROP YOU!”

He will. The gun is set to incapacitate, not kill, but he’s not inclined to tell her that. He's not the calm machista born from years of introspection. Right now, he's the machista of his youth: angry, rough, more than a little desperate. He's the man who beat six men into the ground his sophomore year of University, the man who tried to style himself after men like tío Monche for the longest time until Kate Kane had opened his eyes. One of the women he loves is in danger and he's ready to burn down the world to get her back.

Before he can pull the trigger, the communicator in his pocket crackles to life. _ “Mateo.” _

It’s only years of experience and training that keep him jolting at the sound of int. He does his best to keep himself neutral as he growls out, “What?” 

It’s soft enough so that Thompson won’t hear him, but he hardens his voice just a tad so that the communicator will still pick it up. From the way Kara’s brow furrows, she picks his voice up too.

_ “I have a location.” _

He can see Kara’s eyes widen as his own grip on the gun slackens ever so slightly. 

“Are you sure?” He needs Kate to be sure. Alex is running out of time.

_ “Positive.” _

“Where?”

_ “Warehouse district. There’s a series of buildings that are abandoned according to public records, but there’s a noticeable power draw, plus a signal being broadcast.” _

Mateo stares Kara down. He still has a death grip around Thompson’s arm. By now, guards from other cell blocks have started to arrive, though none of them have, thankfully, drawn their weapons. He eyes them all, then he makes his choice.

“Relay the location to the DEO.” He shoves Thompson towards the guards. “Let’s go, Supergirl.”

Kara’s by Mateo’s side the second Thompson is out of his grasp. Half a moment later, her cape is around him and they’re both in the air. 

-

Kate’s coordinates are right on the money. It’s little wonder that the DEO couldn’t find Alex. This place is so out of the way, no one, not even a semi-clandestine paramilitary organisation, would think to look here.

Kara sets Mateo down and punches her way through the garage door with ease, then rushes in with him quick on her heels. Neither of them make it far before they both freeze at the sight that greets them. 

The tank is full. Alex is floating. Just floating. It looks so wrong. Alex is a fighter, has always been a fighter. From the distance that he’s at, Mateo can’t tell if she’s alive or dead and it makes the crushing weight in his chest that much worse. 

Kara’s off like a shot, but to Mateo, it feels like Kara’s moving in slow motion. He can’t move. His feet are frozen to the concrete while his heart sticks in his throat. It’s only when the sound of shattering glass reaches his ears, does he finally start moving.

He’s by Alex’s side within seconds. She’s still not moving. She’s not even breathing. That scares him more than anything. His hands are on her chest and he’s doing compressions before the motions even fully register with his brain. Everything is so loud: his heartbeat, the blood pounding in his ears, even the panic humming underneath his skin. Is this how Kate had felt after Beth had stabbed him?

“C’mon, c’mon.” Mateo’s an observant Jew, but he’s not particularly religious the same way that Kate is. Still, he prays desperately to whatever higher power exists and pleads for Alex to start coughing. To start making a sound. To do _ anything _.

She does.

She coughs and splutters as the water leaves her lungs. The second she starts, Mateo rolls her on her side so that she doesn’t aspirate. The sight of Alex retching water isn’t particularly glamorous in most circumstances, but in this moment, it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen or heard outside of Kate’s smile or Lucy’s laugh. It means that Alex is alive.

She’s alive. 

He hears the sound of boots pounding against concrete. He glances right to see Lucy running up, panic and a raw, desperate hope in her eyes.

“Alex,” is all she says.

Alex’s coughs finally taper off. 

Mateo helps her sit up and holds her against him. She shivering and soaking wet and he can feel his own clothes growing damp with each passing second, but he doesn’t care. She’s alive.

“You held on,” he hears Kara murmur.

“I held on,” Alex chokes out.

Mateo’s grip tightens around her. 

Glass crunches next to him as Lucy crouches down. Her arms join him in holding Alex close.

“Hey,” Alex slurs.

Lucy lets out a choked sob and presses a kiss to Alex’s hair. 

“Hey yourself, Danvers,” he manages to get out. 

Mateo’s throat feels so dry, so tight. He doesn’t even realise he’s started crying until Alex’s hand comes up to wipe away his tears. The feel of her fingertips brushing against his cheek makes him cry harder. He pulls her even closer and presses his face against her shoulder, sobbing all the while. 

-

Even with Alex alive and breathing, Mateo somehow still manages to find himself feeling even more stressed than before. Dr. Hamilton had put up with about five minutes of his hovering before kicking him out. It left him pacing up and down the hall at a pace that was just a step below frantic while Lucy stayed behind to get information about Alex’s condition.

“Detective Sawyer.”

He spins around at the sound of Vasquez’s voice. It takes a second for the sight before him to register with his brain and when it does, he freezes.

Kate. 

“Mateo.” Her voice is soft.

It’s all he needs to hear. He takes two stumbling steps towards her. She meets him before he can take a third and pulls him into a tight hug.

“You, you’re here,” he stammers out. “I don’t, this is a government building.”

As soon as the words leave his mouth, Mateo wants to smack himself. Of all the things to say. 

To his relief, though, Kate just gives him a soft smile. “I know. It’s why I have an escort, who I’m certain has other things to do.” She raises a pointed eyebrow at Vasquez.

The agent takes the hint. They give Mateo and Kate a curt nod before side stepping a still-stammering Mateo to return to their position in the command center.

“How’s Alex?” Kate asks once Vasquez is out of sight.

Mateo pulls away slightly to look at her. “Um, fine. I think. We got to her in time, sort of? The tank was completely full but K-Supergirl broke it so Alex got out and I did resuscitations, which got the water out of her lungs and she was conscious when we arrived-”

He’s babbling. He knows he is. But he can’t stop. All he can see is Alex’s body in the tank, floating. Not moving. Not fighting. 

Kate’s finger settles gently against his lips, stopping him cold. “Breathe,” she tells him.

He does and inhales shakily.

“She’s okay?” she asks.

“I-yeah.” She had been when Dr. Hamilton had kicked him out.

Kate nods. “Okay.” She takes his hand and intertwines their fingers. “Let’s go see her. I’m guessing Lucy’s with her?”

“Yeah.” He blinks. “Wait, what?”

“We’re going in to that medbay together because I want to meet your girlfriends and because you’re falling apart from stress, ‘Teo.”

“I’m fine!” he protests. 

Kate glances down at their joined hands where his knuckles have turned white. He’s impressed that she hasn’t said anything until now.

He loosens his grip and gives her an apologetic look. “Sorry,” he says.

He closes his eyes when she kisses his cheek in response. “It’s okay,” she whispers. “Now, you ready?”

Mateo glances to the medbay. His heart is back in his throat once again. Still, he nods. 

-

“I was just about to come get you-oh,” he hears Lucy say as he walks in.

Next to him, Kate freezes. It makes his brow furrow. Kate isn’t someone who just _ freezes _.

He clears his throat. “Uh, Luce, Alex, this, this is my wife. Kate,” he introduces. 

“Oh.” This time, it’s from Alex.

Mateo can feel his palms start to sweat. He knew that there was always a chance that introducing his wife to his girlfriends would go awkwardly, but he never thought it would go this awkward. 

Kate’s the one that breaks the silence. “Mateo, you’re a dick.”

He blinks. “Excuse me?” Out of everything he expected Kate to say, that had certainly not been one of them. 

“You mentioned Lucy Lane before, but you failed to mention that she was the hotter Lane,” Kate says simply.

He can see Lucy’s cheeks turn bright red while Alex ducks her head and grins in agreement.

“I thought it was pretty obvious!” he protests. Anyone with eyes could see that Lucy is very much the hotter Lane. 

“A picture would’ve been nice.”

“She’s all over the internet!” 

Kate waves him off. “Please, you know that media captures and uniform photos don’t do anyones looks justice.”

He has to give her that. The media always seems to find a way to catch people at their worst angles. It’s one of the few things that completely baffles him. 

“Wait, you never sent her a picture of either of us?” Lucy asks.

“No?” It comes out more as a question than he would like it to. “It would’ve been rude to do it without either of your permissions.”

Lucy and Alex exchange looks. “Has he always been like this?” Alex asks.

Kate sighs. “Yup.” She gives him a fond look that makes his own cheeks heat up. 

Mateo pouts in response.

"Soo…" Lucy draws out. "Now what?"

The way Kate licks her lips is the only sign Mateo has as to just how nervous she really is. "Well, I was maybe hoping I could treat you two to dinner," Kate says. 

"Hoping?" Lucy raises an eyebrow. “You don’t have a plan?”

Kate shrugs. “I’m from Gotham.” 

With people like the Joker running around, no one from Gotham ever made plans when faced with so many unknowns. Neither he nor Kate had known ahead of time how Lucy and Alex would react or how the introduction would go.

“Well, I’m never one to turn down dinner, especially if the offer is coming from such a breathtaking woman like yourself.” The grin Lucy gives Kate is positively salacious. Mateo has to fight back his own grin at the sight of it. Lucy Lane is such a little shit and he loves it. 

“But,” she continues, “it’s really up to Alex.”

She won’t speak for Alex, and neither will he. They all speak for themselves for matters like this.

Alex eyes Kate with an expression Mateo can’t decipher. He can see the wheels turning in her head. It makes his heart jump back up into his throat again. He wishes his heart would pick a location and stick with it because he’s not sure how much more of it leaping into his throat he can take before he finally does throw up from nerves.

“I’m down,” she eventually says. Mateo lets out a breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding back. “Something tells me it’s going to be enjoyable.”

“I mean, Kate’s cooking is to die for,” he says.

“Hopefully not literally die for, ‘Teo,” Kate says. 

“Well that chocolate cake you make is-” She jabs him hard in the ribs before can finish, drawing a yelp and another pout from him.

Alex laughs. Both Kate and Mateo pause at the sound. Alex’s laugh is such a beautiful sound, especially after the day they have all had. 

“You weren’t kidding. Her smile is amazing.” Kate can’t seem to take her eyes off either Lucy or Alex. “Both of their smiles are.”

Alex’s smile is as warm as her laughter. Lucy’s smile is blinding and full of relief. Mateo can feel the knot in his chest loosening and his heart settling back where it’s supposed to be.

“I can see why you love them, ‘Teo.” He glances at Kate. The smile she has on her lips is small, but warm. Loving. She’s as smitten as he is.

His hand slips into hers. “Yeah.”


	2. Where Things Diverge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck my own established canon. They got married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Among the Ashkenazim, the general custom is to wear a tallit gadol after one's wedding and may even be presented as a wedding present. Western Sephardim (e.g. Spanish and Portuguese Jews), on the other hand, wear a tallit gadol even if they're not married. In this fic, Kate is an Ashkenazic Jew, thus her presenting Maggie with a tallit (I don't know if that actually happens irl, I'd have to ask my rabbi). Maggie, for this verse, identifies as a Sephardic Jew because 1) rolling w/ the HC that Lupita is a Sephardic Jew and 2) that's the minhag (custom) her aunt practices.
> 
> Also, Maggie signs the ketubah 'bat Avraham v'Sarah' because Abraham and Sarah are considered the forebearers of Judaism and that's where Maggie is tracing her family from instead of tracing it from Oscar and her mum.
> 
> Note: wedding pictured isn't a typical Jewish wedding but hey, it's Kate Kane and Maggie Sawyer. Nothing traditional about em.

“We’re finally done,” Kate groans.

Maggie hums. She tries to ignore the way her stomach jumps due to the intimacy of Kate’s gesture. She has to stop herself from wrapping an arm around Kate’s shoulders to pull her close. It would be so easy to fall right back into their old pattern, but they’re exes now. They have to stay that way.

“Maggie?”

Maggie glances at her. “Yeah?”

She sees Kate bite her lip. "Wait here," Kate says.

Maggie raises an eyebrow but nods nonetheless. "Okay." It's not like she's going anywhere in her current state as it is.

Kate gets up and disappears into their bedroom. Her bedroom now. Maggie tilts her head as she sound of Kate rummaging through drawers reaches her ears. A few moments later, Kate reemerges with a cloth bag in her hand.

"Here," Kate says, as soon as she's back by the couch. She holds the bag out to Maggie.

Maggie feels her breath catch in her throat. It's a tallit bag. A silk tallit bag. She looks back at Kate. "Kate..." Is she really asking what Maggie thinks she's asking?

"You don't have to say yes," Kate says quickly. "It's yours even if you say no, because you deserve a tallit of your own. One that makes you feel comfortable no matter what day it is."

Maggie licks her lips. "You, you're asking me to marry you." It's not a question. 

"Yes." Kate suddenly looks shy. "Only if you want to, though."

"You said that breaking up was the only way to get Beth off of me, off of us," Maggie reminds her.

"I know, but I, I can't imagine my life without you, Mags."

Maggie eyes the tallit. It's the one she's been looking at for ages now, but never bought because the price wasn't conducive on a cops salary. It's obvious that Kate had bought it some time ago and had been waiting to give it to her, most likely for this very reason. 

Kate appears to be taking her silence as rejection, because she looks away. "You don't have to say yes," she says again. "I understand if you don't want to--"

Maggie leans forward, ignoring the way her stomach twinges at the motion, and gently presses her lips to Kate's. 

"Yes," she whispers against them.

She watches Kate blink owlishly. "Yes?" Kate asks, as if afraid to believe she heard right.

"Yes," Maggie confirms.

Kate's smile is brilliant. It's the first time since Maggie's seen it since she was stabbed and it makes her heart flutter. She's missed that smile. 

"I need to call Bruce," she mutters.

Now it's Maggie's turn to blink. "Why?"

"Because Alfred's an ordained minister and he can marry us," Kate says. "And Bruce is gonna be my best man. We've had an agreement since we were like, 13."

Maggie can't help it. She starts to laugh. Of course her girlfriend--no, the woman who's about to become her wife--would have that kind of agreement with Bruce.

She leans in and kisses Kate again. "It can wait a few hours, babe," she murmurs.

-

They have no idea how closely Beth is watching them, or if she is at all, so Kate calls Bruce under the guise of arranging a farewell dinner for Maggie. While she’s busy chatting with him, Maggie calls Covington.

He answers after the first ring. _ “Covington.” _

“Jay, it’s Maggie. Look, are you free?” she asks.

_ “Yeah, just finishing up some reports. What’s up?” _

“I need your help with something,” she says. “A case!”

Maggie can hear him frowning over the phone. _ “We don’t have any active cases. Red Alice is being moved to inactive,” _he says slowly. 

“It’s a different case. Look, I’m gonna text you an address. Just meet me there.” 

She hangs up before he can say anything else and sees Kate grinning at her. She feels her cheeks turning red. “What?” she asks.

“Nothing.” Kate leans in and kisses Maggie’s cheek. “Jay’s just gonna shit himself when he pulls up to Wayne Manor.”

Maggie grins, entirely unrepentant. 

-

Jay’s already at Wayne Manor when Kate and Maggie pull up. He’s leaning against his car, a look of annoyance on his face.

“Seriously?” he asks. “Wayne Manor? What, are we going after Gotham’s shining star for tax evasion?”

Maggie rolls her eyes. “Bruce Wayne’s books are impeccable, Jay, you know that,” she says.

She pointedly ignores Kate’s mutter of, _ “So are mine.” _

Jay folds his arms and leans back ever so slightly. It’s like looking in a mirror. Maybe that’s why he and she made such great partners. “So why exactly am I here then, Sawyer?”

The gates to Wayne Manor creak open before Maggie can answer him. They all turn to see Alfred walking up.

“Ms. Kane,” he greets. “Detective Sawyer, Detective Covington. Master Wayne is expecting you.”

_ “Expecting us?” _ Jay squawks. He shoots a look to Maggie. “The fuck have you gotten us into?” he hisses under his breath as they all make their way towards the manor proper.

“Not out here.” Beth could be watching. Listening. “I’ll come clean once we’re inside.”

“You’re so lucky we’ve been partners for so long, ‘cause otherwise I’d kick your ass,” he grumbles.

Maggie punches him in the shoulder.

-

“So,” Jay drawls once they’re inside. “I’m still waiting for that explanation, Mags.”

Maggie lets out a breath. “I’m getting married.” Her stomach flips as the words leave her mouth. It still sounds so surreal saying it out loud. “And I want you to be my best man.”

Jay stares, jaw slack. Maggie has to resist the urge to fidget at his silence. They’ve been partners, practically like best friends and siblings for years now and she can read just about all of his silences. All of them, except this one. 

“You, you’re getting married?!” 

“Yeah.” Maggie nods.

She yelps a second later when he pulls her into a crushing hug. “Holy shit, Mags, congratulations!” He pulls away with a questioning look on his face. “Wait, if you’re getting married why are we here and not at City Hall?”

Maggie glances to Kate, who’s chatting quietly with Bruce. Even from the distance she’s at, Maggie can see the tension in Kate’s jaw. She has to fight the urge to keep her hand from flexing, to keep from walking over and brushing a thumb against Kate’s jaw to try and get her girlfriend, no, her fiance to relax.

“Because no one else can know,” she murmurs.

“What? You’re marrying Kate Kane and she wants to keep that a secret?” Jay sounds incensed. “That fucking-”

“_ We _,” Maggie cuts in, before her partner can go storming over to her fiance and give her a piece of his mind. “We want to keep it a secret. We have to, Jay.”

“Why?” he demands. “Because you’re a cop and she has more money than God? Can’t image that would go over well with the board of Kane Industries and-”

“They know about me and Kate. They have for ages,” Maggie says quietly, stopping him in his tracks. 

Kate Kane’s sexuality is open knowledge just about everywhere. No one in Kane Industries cares, not even the board. Their biggest issue had been whether or not Maggie was a corporate spy and once it became clear that Maggie was just a cop, their grumbling had pretty much ceased.

“Oh. Then, why hide it?” 

The genuine confusion in his voice reminds Maggie that Gotham is different from Blue Springs. Here, no one sniffs disdainfully at the idea of two women or two men hooking up or getting married. There are bigger things to worry about, like whether or not the Joker or Poison Ivy is about to ruin one’s insurance policy for the year. 

“Because Beth is still out there,” she says honestly. “And if she finds out, then-”

“Then Kate’s in danger,” he finishes. “Hence Wayne Manor.”

“Yeah.”

“Damn, Mags, now I feel like an ass.”

Maggie grins. “To be fair, you are one,” she teases.

He rolls his eyes. “Oh shut up.” A beat. “You’re moving to National City. Transferring.”

“I am. It was, it was kind of Kate’s idea, originally.”

“Then…”

Maggie shrugs. “Then we got our heads out of our asses and realised that life was too short to not kiss the girls we want to kiss.” She grins. “Or, marry the girl I want to marry.”

“Oh my god that was so cheesy, Sawyer,” he groans.

Maggie’s grin widens. “I can’t imagine my life without her, Jay.”

“Yeah.” His voice is suddenly soft. She follows his line of sight back to Kate, who by now raising an eyebrow at their antics. “I don’t think she can imagine her life without you either, Maggie.”

“That mean you’re still up to be my best man for this?” she asks.

“Are you kidding?” He raises an eyebrow at her. “Who else would you ask?”

“Oh, I dunno,” she draws out. “Alfred, maybe?”

Jay punches her in the arm. “Rude!”

Maggie laughs.

He pouts. “Just for that, I’m gonna be your best man so that Pennyworth can’t steal my spot!”

Maggie holds her fist out. “Awesome.”

He returns the fistbumb, a grin wide on his face. 

Alfred clears his throat, drawing the attention of both of them. “Detective Sawyer, Detective Covington, if you would come with me please,” he says.

Maggie’s brow furrows. “Why?”

Alfred raises an eyebrow. “You need to get ready for your wedding, of course.”

“Why isn’t Kate coming with, though?”

“Ms. Kane needs to get ready herself.”

“But-”

Maggie jumps when Jay wraps an arm around her shoulder. “It’s tradition and all that jazz, Mags,” he says.

“Tradition sucks,” she grumbles.

Jay’s laughter rings throughout the entryway as he steers Maggie after Alfred.

-

There’s a white guayabera hanging when they enter the room. It makes Maggie stop.

“Master Wayne took the liberty of having one ordered after Ms. Kane mentioned you might like to wear one,” Alfred says pleasantly.

Maggie walks over it and runs the fabric between her fingers. It’s soft to the touch, softer than the well worn guayabera her tia had given her all those years ago. 

“When did he order it?” she asks. “Kate called him what, all of four hours ago?”

There’s a twinkle in Alfred’s eye. “He ordered it several weeks ago. Shortly before...the incident.”

Incident. It’s such a polite way to put it. She knows that Alfred isn’t putting it that way to make light of Beth nearly killing her, but it still makes her want to laugh. 

Nonetheless, Maggie’s eyebrows shoot up. “Weeks ago? Does that mean…” She can’t bring herself to finish the question.

“I’m afraid I’m not privy to Ms. Kane’s thoughts, Detective, however, I can say that she and Master Wayne went ring shopping some time ago.” The twinkle in his eyes is still there, but the smile he gives her is soft. It tells her everything she needs to know.

“Thank you, Alfred,” she says.

“Of course.” He tips his head. “I shall take my leave.”

He turns on his heel and quickly exits the room, no doubt to go check up on Kate and Bruce.

“You okay?” Jay asks, once Alfred is gone.

“Yeah, I’m just…” Maggie lets out a breath. “Wow, this is real now.”

Jay laughs. “You didn’t think it was real before?”

Maggie shrugs off her leather jacket and pulls her henley over her head, revealing a white t-shirt underneath. “No, I knew it was real, it just, it hadn’t really sunk in yet, you know?” she asks.

She hears one of the plush seats behind her creak as Jay sits down. “What, that Kate Kane wants to marry your scrappy ass?”

Maggie throws the guayabera over her shoulders. “Well, that, but also that I’m getting married in the first place, especially like this.” She starts to do up the buttons. “Every time I’d picture what it’d be like to get married as a kid, this was never it.”

“What’d you dream of?” He sounds curious.

Before she had been kicked out, her dreams had been a church with a priest, maybe a deacon. Her father and mother would be behind her. Eliza Wilke would be across from her, hair done up in curls, in a dress that seemed to glow in the sunlight streaming in behind the altar. After she had been kicked out, the image had changed: a sunny day, a rabbi, a magnificent chuppah. Her parents would show up and apologise, her father would ask to walk her down the aisle and she would let him because she missed her papi. Her tallit would wrap around Eliza’s shoulders and the two of them would cry like the idiots they were as the rabbi announced them wife and wife because things were finally back to how they should be.

Maggie shrugs. “Not this.” 

“Is that bad?”

“No.” Maggie grins. “This is better.”

So much better. Eliza isn’t part of her dream anymore. _ Kate _is. Kate’s the one she’s going to be pulling her tallit around, the one she’s going to be kissing desperately, the one she’s going to be sobbing against because things are better than she could ever dream them to be. Maggie doesn’t need her parents here, doesn’t need them to see her now or even to like her. She didn’t need anything from them because she’s already good. 

She sees Jay return her grin in the mirror. “Then that’s all that matters,” he says.

Maggie looks at herself in the mirror, looks over the guayabera she’s wearing. “Yeah,” she whispers. “It is.”

-

Maggie walks into the greenhouse with her tallit around her shoulders. She can’t stop herself from fiddling with her tzitzit with every step she takes. Its weight over her shoulders is just another sign that this is real. That Kate Kane asked Maggie to marry her.

It’s not long before she spots the chuppah and Alfred. Having changed out of his staple butler uniform and into a ministers robe, he’s the only person present other than her and Jay.

“...I thought Kate was kidding when she said you were an ordained minister, Alfred,” Maggie says.

Alfred shrugs, a move that Maggie never thought she would see from the prim and proper man. “A butler ought to be prepared for anything, Detective,” he replies.

“Fair point.” Maggie had to give him that, especially given everything that the Wayne Family had been through over the decades.

Whatever Maggie is going to say next is cut off by Jay tapping her on the shoulder. She turns to give him a curious look, only to freeze when she catches sight of Kate. She’s dressed in a simple sundress. It’s not the ballgown she and Maggie had discussed in passing before, but it still looks incredible on her. Her red hair glows in the afternoon sunlight currently streaming into the greenhouse.

In short, she’s absolutely _ breathtaking _. Maggie has no idea she’s stopped breathing until Jay thumps her hard in the back.

“You can’t pass out until after she says ‘I do’, Mags,” he teases.

She flips him off without taking her eyes off of Kate.

“Hi,” Kate says.

“Hey,” Maggie stammers back.

She can hear Jay facepalming behind her, followed by a soft, _ “For fucks sake, Sawyer.” _

She sees Kate’s lips twitch into a small grin. It makes Maggie want to kiss her, but before she can lean in and do just that, Alfred clears his throat.

“Ms. Kane, if you could stand here, please.” He motions to his right. “And Detective Sawyer, if you could please stand here.” He motions to the opposite side.

Once the two of them are in position, he slides a sheet of paper forward. Maggie recognises what it is almost immediately: a ketubah. As far as ketubahs go, it’s relatively simple; a plain white background with golden filigree along the border. It’s likely not the ketubah that most would see Kate Kane having, but Maggie knows Kate and she knows herself. Neither of them are dramatic people, nor do they have a need for loud declarations of love. Simplicity, particularly during today, becomes them.

Alfred holds up a pen. “Which of you would like to sign first?”

Maggie and Kate exchange looks. This isn’t something they’ve discussed before.

“Uh, I guess I will,” Maggie eventually says. 

She takes the pen, glances over the document twice, then pauses when she gets to the signature line. She has no idea what to put down. Does she sign in English? Hebrew? Does it need a Hebrew name? Oh, god, what was her Hebrew name again? 

“Maggie.” She looks up to see Kate giving her a soft smile. “It’s ours. Whatever you put down is okay.”

It’s not like either of them would be going before a beit din anyway.

Maggie swallows. “Right.” 

She does her best to keep her hand steady as she prints her name, first in English, then in Hebrew. 

_ מרגריטה סוייר, בת לאברהם ושרה. _

Bat Avraham v’Sarah, not bat Oscar v’Maria. She isn’t going to put her father’s name on her ketubah, not when he had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her the night he left her on the side of the road on Valentine’s Day all those years ago. 

She hands the pen to Kate and take a step back. She feels Jay place an encouraging hand on her shoulder.

Kate signs much faster, and neater, than Maggie does. Maggie feels slightly embarrassed to see her own messy print next to Kate’s elegant cursive, but it quickly fades at the warm smile Kate sends her way. 

“Gentlemen,” Alfred says once Kate steps back.

Bruce signs just as quickly as Kate did, his handwriting just as impeccable as Kate’s is. Jay signs slower and entirely in English, but somehow, his handwriting still looks better than Maggie’s.

“I can’t believe I have better handwriting than you on your wedding day,” he mutters.

“Fuck off,” she hisses back.

Alfred picks up the ketubah. “Are both parties ready for the ketubah to be read?” he asks.

Maggie wraps her tallit around Kate’s shoulders. “I am if she is,” she says.

“I’m more than ready,” Kate says.

Alfred nods. “Margarita Sawyer and Katherine Kane declare their love and join their loves in a bond of eternal love,” he starts. “On this day, they pledge to cherish and honour each other.”

Maggie’s hand slips into Kate’s. 

“They promise to be honest and open with one another, to delight in each other’s uniqueness, and to share all of their dreams, thoughts and feelings. They promise to be as sensitive and understanding towards one another in their hours of happiness, as they are in their moments of sadness. They pledge to fulfill their spiritual and emotional needs as one. They strive to build a home committed to their heritage and values, a home filled with love, laughter, happiness, and respect.”

Maggie felt Kate squeeze her hand. They both knew it could be years before they would actually be able to build a physical home together with all of those qualities. If it meant that she could call Kate her wife, though, then Maggie could wait years.

“As their love grows deeper and stronger, may their souls be intertwined with their hearts’ deepest intimacy. All of this is valid and binding.” He looks up from the ketubah. “Do you both accept this?”

“I do,” Maggie confirms.

“I do,” Kate says.

There’s no doubt in either of their voices.

Alfred nods. "Then by the power invested in me by the state of Illinois and the city of Gotham, I now pronounce you wife and wife," he announces.

Maggie draws her tallit tighter around hers and Kate's shoulders as she pulls Kate close and kisses her. She can feel a tear make its way down her face but she doesn’t care that she’s crying while she’s kissing her wife. It's one of the best kisses she and Kate have ever had.

"I love you, Mags," Kate whispers once they break apart, wiping away the tears on Maggie’s cheeks.

Maggie presses her forehead against Kate's. "I love you too, Kate." She brushes a thumb against Kate's cheek. "We should probably figure out the last name thing."

Jay's stomach rumbles loudly, breaking the moment.

Kate giggles while Maggie just lets out a sigh before shooting her partner an exasperated look. _ "Really?" _ Maggie asks.

He has the decency to look embarrassed. "Oops."

Maggie sighs again. She doesn't get the chance to dwell too much on her annoyance because Kate's lips are on hers once more. In that moment, Jay, Bruce, and Alfred all disappear from her attention. All that matters right now is the woman in her arms, the tallit around their shoulders, and her wife's lips against hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation(s):
> 
> Tallit: prayer shawl. Technically the full word is Tallit Gadol (lit. Big Tallit), but most people will get just tallit.
> 
> Ketubah: Jewish prenup. 
> 
> מרגריטה סוייר, בת לאברהם ושרה. - Margarita Sawyer, daughter of Abraham and Sarah.


	3. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie comes clean to Lucy and Alex about how she really ended up in National City and her marriage.

The 8 ball goes in clean. 

Maggie groans at the sight. There goes another $20. She can’t complain too much. Not when Alex is smiling like that. Not when Lucy is laughing behind her.

“It’s one thing to hear about how bad your pool skills are, Sawyer,” Lucy teases, “but it’s another to see them in person.”

Maggie rolls her eyes. “Oh fuck off, Lane,” she snarks, but there’s no real heat in her voice.

Lucy grins, entirely unrepentant.

“I’m gonna go get another drink,” Alex cuts in. “Either of you want a refill?”

Both Lucy and Maggie shake their heads. None of them have been drinking that much, but Maggie has work in the morning and she’s not too keen on going in whilst nursing a hangover.

Once Alex is out of earshot, Lucy leans in close. Maggie has to fight back a shiver at her close proximity.

“So,” Lucy draws out, voice low, “your wife is cool with you hooking up with other women?”

Maggie’s been around long enough to know when to read between the lines. What she hears underneath Lucy’s innocent sounding question makes her jaw clench ever so slightly.

“We have an understanding,” she says coolly. 

The smile Lucy gives her is akin to a shark smelling blood in the water. It reminds Maggie of how Kate could get. "How political," Lucy says sweetly.

Years ago, Maggie’s knee jerk reaction would have been a furious defence of herself and Kate. But time has mellowed her out. Besides, she knew what she was signing on for when she and Kate married in secret. It’s why the only reaction she gives is a faint smile.

"The understanding is that we actually talk like the adults that we are and discuss how the people we see fit into our relationship, Lane," she drawls. 

"Oh." Lucy looks somewhat mollified. 

"I would never cheat on Kate," Maggie says quietly. "Never. She and I, we just have big hearts and complicated lives because that's how Gotham has made us."

She has to fight back a soft sigh of relief when she sees Lucy finally soften. That relief doesn’t last long, because the next thing she hears is, “I’ve been a lawyer long enough to know when there’s more to a story, Mags.”

The breath that Maggie lets out is harsh. She glances towards the bar to see Alex coming back. As soon as the redhead sets her beer on the pool table, Maggie takes it and drains it quickly.

“Hey!” Alex protests.

Maggie sets the now-empty bottle down a little harder than she intends to. “Not here,” she mutters.

“What?” Both Alex and Lucy look confused. 

“You want the full story, I’ll give it to you, just, not here.” 

Maggie turns on her heel before either of them can say anything and makes her way towards the exit. 

-

The drive back to Maggie’s apartment is tense. Maggie feels a slightly bad for how thick the tension is, but she’s also thankful for it. It gives her time to get her thoughts in order, gives her a chance to figure out what the hell she’s going to say. In theory, she already knows. In practice...well, that’s a whole different story.

Her hands shake as she opens the door to her apartment. She wants to hate how her hands shake. She’s faced down the likes of Scarecrow and the Joker repeatedly; spilling her life story to two women she’s fallen hard for should be small fry in comparison.

The door lock clicks. Maggie shoves the door open with her shoulder. Alex and Lucy follow behind her. 

Once they’re all inside, she shuts the door and locks it. “Give me a sec, and give me your phones,” she says.

“Wait, what?” Alex asks.

Lucy’s eyes narrow in suspicion.

“Just, please,” Maggie says. “I’ll give them back in a sec. I just have to take care of some things.”

Alex and Lucy exchange uncertain looks, but phones are handed over nonetheless. Maggie quickly takes them and places them in the safe in the kitchen, before punching in the code that triggers the signal masking program. She doesn’t miss how her girlfriends wince at the initial sonic whine the program lets out.

“Alright, Sawyer.” Maggie looks back to where Lucy and Alex are and sees Lucy leaning back, arms folded across her chest. “What’s with all the cloak and dagger bullshit?”

Despite the tension in the room, Maggie cracks a grin. “It’s part of the story,” she says. “Couch? It’s kinda long and I figured we should get comfortable.”

-

Maggie sits on the coffee table across from Alex and Lucy. The two of them are sitting close enough together to be holding hands, but there’s enough distance between them that Maggie can keep her eyes focused on the kitchen backdrop behind them. She fiddles with an empty scotch glass in her hands.

“Have either of you heard of the Red Alice Massacre?” she asks.

Even with her gaze focused in the distance, she can spot vague recognition in her periphery, but nothing concrete. She’s not surprised. For better or worse, Gotham is synonymous with crime and chaos. It has serial killers in spades, but only those with truly spectacular body counts or particularly gruesome methods ever made the national news stage.

Maggie sighs. “It’s a case I worked about four years ago. A bunch of people were found murdered and the only thing tying them together were pages of Lewis Carroll’s _ Alice in Wonderland _. I was the one that found the connection, so I got made lead detective on the case.” She runs a hand through her hair. “Bodies dropped pretty consistently during the whole thing, but we weren’t really able to get anywhere, which I think kind of frustrated Red Alice because she wound up kidnapping me.”

“She _ what _?” Lucy sounds aghast.

Alex looks thoughtful. “That explains why you were so calm when that Infernian kidnapped you,” she muses.

Maggie laughs. “Yeah, after Red Alice, anything else might as well be a cakewalk, honestly, because at least most kidnappers don’t start off planning to kill their hostage,” she says.

“She’d planned to?” Alex asks.

Maggie rubs the back of her head. “Ish?” It comes out as more a question than a definitive answer. “Her original target was Kate Kane, who happened to be my girlfriend at the time.”

Lucy whistles. “Oh, damn.”

“Yeah,” Maggie nods. “She couldn’t get to Kate because Kate had just left for a business trip earlier that week, so she grabbed me. And then K-Batwoman showed up.”

If either Lucy or Alex notice her slip up, neither of them say anything.

“Batwoman?” Alex sounds surprised.

“Yup, Batwoman.” Maggie can’t stop the pride from entering her voice as she says the name. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop being proud that Kate is a hero. “Though, to be honest, I don’t remember much after her arrival. Red Alice stabbed me right after. I woke up a week later in the hospital.”

It’s a lie. She remembers everything. Remembers the knife going into her stomach. Remembers Beth’s laughter. Remembers Kate screaming, begging her to stay awake.

“That’s where the story really starts,” she says. “Officially, I was offered the opportunity to transfer over to NCPD’s Science Division.”

“And unofficially?” Lucy asks.

“Unofficially, Commissioner Gordon pulled some strings to get me out of the city because Beth was still out there and she would come for me again if I stayed.” 

“Because she didn’t kill you the first time,” Alex guesses.

Maggie’s hand clenches around the glass.

_ I want Katy’s head. _

_ But I don’t think I’ll get it now. _

_ So I’ll settle for taking her heart instead! _

_ A pain in her stomach. _

_ Kate screaming. _

_ Beth’s shrill laughter. _

“Something like that.”

Lucy sighs. “Look, Maggie, no offence, but can you stop with the cryptic-”

“I’m about to get there, Luce,” she cuts in. “Honest.” 

She takes a deep breath. Turns the glass over in her hands once more. “She wanted to hurt Kate, hurt her in a way that would break her and as long as I was in Gotham, that opportunity would always be present. So Kate came up with a plan, which involved the two of us breaking up and me transferring out here, away from her. Away from Red Alice.” 

A faint smile rises to her lips. “But, as I’m sure the both of you know, most plans never survive contact with the enemy.”

“And what enemy was that?” Alex asks.

“Our idiot hearts,” Maggie says simply. 

_ You said that breaking up was the only way to get Beth off of me, off of _us.

_ I know, but I can’t imagine my life without you, Mags. _

“We were packing up the apartment and she proposed and I said yes because I couldn’t imagine my life without her. Can’t imagine my life without her. We got married a few hours after that.”

“And no one knows?” Lucy questions.

Maggie shrugs. “Outside of you, Alex, Bruce Wayne, his butler, and my old partner, no.”

She sees Alex blink. “Why does Bruce Wayne know that you’re married?”

“Because he’s my wife’s cousin and apparently they’d had an agreement since they were 13 to be each other's best people,” Maggie says. “We had the wedding at his place because it’s locked up tighter than the DEO.”

Lucy leans back against the couch cushions. “So you got married and then left?” she asks.

“Yeah, and that’s when the official story started,” Maggie says. “The day before I left, Kate and I issued a joint statement to Page Six that we had decided to part ways for career reasons, then I got on a plane and flew here while Bruce made a charitable six figure contribution to City Hall to put our marriage certificate at the very back of a filing cabinet while also keeping it off the books.”

“He _ bribed _City Hall?” If Lucy sounded aghast before, she sounds even more so now.

Another shrug from Maggie. “It’s Gotham. Me and Kate couldn’t be seen anywhere near City Hall, and as far as bribes go, that’s one of the nicer ones.”

She remembers the seven figures Carmine Falcone dropped on GCPD before Gordon became the commissioner. Four of her friends died later that week, their identities as undercover cops exposed by the superior officers who were supposed to protect them.

Maggie sets the glass down. “When I said that I haven’t seen my wife in four years, Alex, I meant it. We haven’t physically seen each other since our wedding day. She didn’t even drive me to the airport, Bruce did,” she says. “We’ve kept in contact: encrypted phone calls, letters in random mailboxes, anonymous flowers. But seeing Kate? That hasn’t happened, and it won’t. Not while Red Alice is still out there.”

“And how does this arrangement between you and Kate figure in?” Lucy asks.

“Well, because of the distance between us and because we’re still hiding the fact that we’re married from the world at large, our marriage is an open one by necessity,” Maggie says. “We figured out pretty early on that it wouldn’t be fair for either of us to be alone for so long. Not to mention, if we did that, Beth might catch on and realise that me and Kate were still together.”

She picks up the glass and starts playing with it again. “Me and Kate have an understanding that it’s okay to see other people. We don’t have to tell each other everything, just a heads up,” she says. “But if feelings start happening, then we talk so we can figure out how the new person, or people, will work into our overall relationship.”

“Sounds healthy,” Alex muses. There’s no sarcasm in her tone, only honesty and Maggie feels the knot in her chest loosen because of it.

“Yeah, well, it’s not perfect,” she admits. “It’s taken some serious trial and error to get where we are now.”

She clears her throat. “So, that’s pretty much it.”

Pretty much, but not all of it. She won’t bring up the errors that she and Kate had made over the years. She won’t bring up Emily or Renee. Renee is Kate’s story and Emily? Emily is for another time, preferably one when she is a lot less sober. 

There’s a stunned silence. Then, “Damn,” Lucy grumbles. “I feel like an ass now.”

Maggie grins. “To be fair, you have a great one,” she teases.

She yelps and pouts when Lucy whaps her shoulder. “Mean,” she grumbles.

Lucy sighs. “I’m sorry for what I implied earlier.”

“It’s fine, honest,” Maggie assures her. “I get how this looks, I really do.”

There’s a reason that Maggie had taken so long to finally tell Emily the full story all those years ago and why she was opening up with it now.

She reaches out and takes their hands in hers. “It’s a complicated situation-”

“No kidding,” Alex murmurs.

Maggie chuckles. “Yeah, but I’m telling you both all of this because I don’t want either of you get the wrong idea about my interest in you two. This isn’t casual for me. I’m not looking to see people for fun.”

“So you’re serious,” Lucy starts slowly, “about the three of us?”

“I thought that was pretty obvious, Luce,” Maggie jokes, before quickly growing serious. She squeezes Lucy’s and Alex’s hands. “I’m serious. I, uh, I’ve told Kate about you two, repeatedly.”

“Repeatedly?” Alex raises an eyebrow.

“Like beyond a heads up.”

It had been a long, panicked phone call that consisted of her rambling to Kate about Lucy and Alex. Kate, bless her, had listened silently until Maggie finally stopped for a breath, before telling Maggie that she was cute and that Alex and Lucy must also be cute and to please for the love of God take a few more breaths so that she didn’t pass out over the phone. 

“You said she yelled at you,” Lucy says. 

Maggie ducks her head, feels her cheeks start to turn pink. “Yeah, she did.”

That had been another phone call in which she had managed to get a single sentence off before Kate was reading her the riot act over being an idiot.

“So she’s okay with us?” Alex asks.

Kate was probably their biggest shipper, now that Maggie thought about it. She won’t say that out loud, though. Instead, she nods. “Yeah. More than.”

Lucy sighs. It makes Maggie’s stomach flip with fear.

“Look, I get that this is a lot,” she says, “and I understand that if you don’t want to-”

Lucy’s finger presses against her lips. “Don’t want to? Don’t want to what, keep up what I’ve got going on with you?” She raises an eyebrow at Maggie. “I can’t speak for Alex, but I’m definitely sticking around to see where we go, Sawyer.”

“I’m not going anywhere either, Maggie,” Alex says. Her voice is softer than Maggie’s ever heard it. She can’t help the small smile that crosses her lips at the sound. “You’re stuck with me too, stuck with us. Besides, gotta pay for our dates somehow and beating you at pool is a surefire way to guarantee that’s gonna happen.”

There’s a cheeky, unrepentant grin at the end of Alex’s statement. It makes Lucy bust out laughing and Maggie huff without any real heat behind it. 

“You’re both jerks, you know that?” she grumbles.

“Oh, definitely, but you enjoy it,” Lucy pipes up.

Maggie smiles. “Yeah, I definitely do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a comment and/or kudos and feel free to come say hi @sandstonesunspear on tumblr


End file.
